Cattle prices falter despite good news

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- News that China is lifting a 13-year import ban on U.S. beef is not helping prices as much as some cattlemen would have hoped.

Brian Williams, agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the news has not resulted in any long-term impact on cattle markets.

“China was already importing beef from the U.S., primarily on the black market through neighboring countries,” he said. “The only difference we may see is a shifting in the destination of our exports, with more going directly to China and less going to its neighbors that would have otherwise ended up in China anyway.”

China initially put the ban in place after a cow in the U.S. tested positive in 2003 for Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease. The Chinese government was slow to lift the ban.